An Affair to Forget
by Empty Lorelai
Summary: After feeling rejected by both her daughter and Luke, Lorelai takes up with Mitchim Huntzberger. Eventual LL.
1. A Menagerie

A/N: This is LL…Soon. Soon. Reviews? Please? I haven't done this in a long time and I'd like to think this is much improved.

Disclaimer: Don't own the characters here. Except for Peter- and I would very much like to keep him (and date him?)

His name was Peter, and he was gorgeous. Strong, athletic build, tall, dark and handsome- this was the guy that any woman would die to have. And Lorelai had him—in fact, she had hooked him with absolutely no effort at all. He had asked her out, he had kissed her good night, and he had called within forty-eight hours (oh, her mother would have been ecstatic) to ask her on a second night. And she obliged to each of his advances- she had said yes to the first date, kissed him back, and they were going for sushi on their second date.

And yet, after that first date, after she had put the leftovers in the fridge and changed into her pajamas, she did not lie alone in bed and happily contemplate her burgeoning relationship. Instead, she proceeded to dial a phone number, wait nervously on the couch for a half and a hour, open her front door, and have crazy monkey sex with Mitchum Huntzberger. And only when he left, after three sweaty, insane, and pleasure-filled hours of some of the best sex of her life, did she contemplate her relationships.

There was the past: Luke. Luke, who had made her so happy, so safe, and so comfortable. Luke, who had rebuffed her proposal after Rory dropped out of Yale. He had taken her completely off-guard. She had taken herself off-guard.

"_It's not the right time, you're not doing this for the right reasons," Luke argued. "Let's wait. Let's get Rory back into Yale, let's make everything right, and then we can do it- then I want to propose."_

But she had said no- he should have loved her enough to say yes under any condition, no matter how flawed. He should have said yes immediately. But he said no, so she left the diner, packed his things, and dropped them in front of the diner the next morning.

There was the future: Peter. They had met at a conference for small Inn owners- Peter was a coffee supplier. He was perfect in every way. And yet? The way she felt about him was somehow reminiscent of her feelings for Max. She knew immediately that she would never feel enough for him- there would never be passion, only a settling feeling that would stay with her until she broke off the relationship.

And then there was the guy who had just left her bed less than a half hour ago: Mitchum. She didn't quite know what was going on there. Lorelai certainly did not love Mitchum- in fact, she wondered if their crazy sex rendezvous were fueled by her absolute disdain for Mitchum Huntzberger. Mitchum Motherfucking Huntzberger. He was the reason Rory was not in Stars Hollow, or off at some fabulous internship, or taking summer classes at Yale. In fact, Rory wouldn't be taking any classes at Yale for at least the next semester- and it was all Mitchum's fault. He was a bastard. A cowardly bastard who was ridiculously good in the sack.

Rory had been the only thought in her mind when she had gone to confront Mitchum at his office in New Haven- how dare he say those things to her daughter? Who the fuck did he think he was? How much did even know about her daughter to be qualified to make such a judgment?

She asked him all of this, and only got more frustrated when he answered each of them calmly.

"_I could be wrong, but I'm usually not. I'm trying to save the kid some trouble," he answered._

"_What exactly prompted you to come to this conclusion? Have you read anything she's written? Are you judging this based on the bagel and coffee she brought you every morning? She brought you reduced fat cream cheese and you just decided 'oh, definitely not journalism-material.'"_

And then, suddenly, they weren't talking about Rory anymore. The subject had been suddenly changed to Lorelai's personal life- and then, she realized, he was hitting on her. This married, low-life, douchebag was rubbing her knee, then kissing her neck. And what she should have done was make a scene right out of _All My Children_ and go all Erica Kane on his ass- defending her daughter's honor. What she did instead was turn around and kiss him right back, unbutton his shirt, and unbutton her own. Why? She didn't quite know. She hated to admit it, but there was something sexy about this guy. Something that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

She felt like a total idiot afterwards. Lorelai Gilmore had just slept with a married man in some fancy office in New Haven. The married father of her daughter's boyfriend. The cowardly bastard who had absolutely crushed her daughter. And she was just left asking, _why? _What was worse was that, before she had been steaming, society bitch, Lorelai had actually been Shira's friend, in middle school. Shira had been a senior in college- way older than Lorelai, but they bonded over their hatred for society. Then Shira had meet Mitchum and Lorelai dropped off her radar. Still, over the years, when Lorelai was forced to attend some society function or one of her mother's mind-numbing parties with the "Hartford Elite" her and Shira would smile at each other and catch up.

She could not for the life of her figure out what was going on in that head of hers- there were plenty of guys who she could have a casual sexual relationship with- yet she chose the smug bastard father of the smug bastard that her daughter was dating. She knew she wasn't the first person Mitchum had cheated on his wife with—in fact, she wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't in the nose-bleed section of his monstrous list of extramarital affairs. She wanted desperately to talk to someone about this- but there was no one who she could talk to without getting emotionally slapped. Sookie would react like any married woman would—like Lorelai was attacking everything that married people stood for. If Luke was still her friend, he would be disgusted by her behavior. She was disgusted by her behavior. And Rory wasn't an option for obvious reasons.

_Mitchum practically ran into the front door. He grabbed her by the waist, moving his hands quickly down to her ass, then up her shirt. He kicked the door in, pulled off her shirt, and pinned her to the wall, knocking over some coat rack on the way in. They looked sternly into each other's eyes, then kissed. She pulled his pants down, as he pushed her dress up and started to kiss her stomach. _


	2. I Keep Things Carefully Covered

A/N: Soooo. I'm a college student back home for summer- I've always wanted to write this story, and completely forgot about FF until I stumbled upon it by chance… If the mood strikes, I may also get to finishing _ UnfaithfuI,_ but I have to think about that one. Thanks for the reviews! Please please please review more!

Disclaimer: Don't own em.

Logan Huntzberger knew his dad was having an affair as soon as he walked into his father's usually spotless office. This was how Mitchum functioned: he would throw himself into the life of some innocent beauty, and they would typically have sex in his office at least once. Mitchum had definitely had sex in this office- papers were strewn all over the floor, there was a shirt button on the desk, and- the most telltale sign- there was a condom wrapper in the trashcan.

"Who's the girl, Dad?" Logan asked, as he took the seat directly across from Mitchum's desk.

"No girl, Logan, no one at all," his father said. "You know I love your mother. We both know I've cheated on your mother before, but I'm done with that nonsense. It was mid-life crisis which is between your mother and I."

Logan sighed- he really hadn't come to the office to discuss his father's exhaustingly hectic personal life. Mitchum would take a lover after two or three months of fidelity. And he didn't really want to know much about this woman anyway- Shira would make sure this poor woman would be far, far away from her husband. In fact, her personal investigator would probably already on Mitchum's tail. It was all about timing with the Huntzbergers. But, no, he came to his father's office to discuss his career. Or lack thereof.

"It's time to start training, son- it's time to start focusing on taking over the Huntzberger corporation—the newspaper business is dying, and we have to figure out a way to deal with this crisis," Mitchum said. "You need to start shadowing me in meetings, going on trips with me- starting next weekend, we're going to London for the weekend to meet with a potential client."

"Dammit, Dad, I don't want to be in the family business- I don't want any of this- give it to someone else, give it to Honor- Honor would love to do this."

"Honor is not my son- this is your responsibility. Start packing. No more of this. It's time to grow up, Logan," Mitchum said, turning back to his computer and typing. Logan sighed, got up, and slammed the door behind him. He hated all of his dad's pathetic expectations for him- Logan had absolutely no interest in running a newspaper. He got in the car and drove to Rory's.

Rory was angry. She was angry at her mom for not supporting her, angry at Mitchum Huntzberger for breaking her spirit, angry at her grandma for waking her up at the ungodly hour of eight, and she was mad at herself, most of all. As soon as she had left Yale, she knew that she was making a mistake. But, in true Gilmore tradition, she decided she would stick with her decision, take the semester off, and be the stubborn person her mother had raised her to be. Plus, she knew she couldn't spend a semester, wandering confused. For the first time in her life, she wasn't sure if she wanted to be a journalist.

Mitchum's words were haunting her. She just didn't have _it._ She would never have _it._ She wasn't going to become a journalist- the reigning William Randolph Hearst had told her so. Rory would never be able to watch _Citizen Kane_ the same way again. If she could tell her mother that, Lorelai would have quipped that she was relieved. Her mother had complained through their entire first viewing of the classic film. During the second, she had mocked it mercilessly. But her mom would also have told Rory to nut up and prove the bastard wrong…But she just couldn't. She felt deflated. Lost. Done. She just felt done.

Logan came to the pool house around 10 that morning, ranting about his latest meeting with his father.

"He has all these expectations for me- but I don't want to fulfill any of them. I don't want to be some newspaper magnate- he's such a moron- and he's cheating on my mom, _again_ and this one must be just stand-up because Mitchum was in fine form today…" he stopped to catch his breath.

Rory wasn't surprised at anything Logan was complaining about- this was always how Mitchum and Logan were- Mitchum gave Logan the "you need to get your priorities in order" speech every three or four months. Great. Of course, now Logan would go on some idiotic Life and Death Brigade binge drinking excursion and come back with a Mohawk. She loved Logan's rebellious side, but sometimes it was just exhausting. She wished he would just come to the same conclusion about Mitchum that she had- he was a fucking bastard.

She also wasn't surprised that Mitchum had a new squeeze- she had interned for him right as he was ending his last affair, witnessing an embarrassing fight in the news office between him and his secretary, who decided to move out of state after the ordeal. Of course she knew that Shira was behind Mitchum's secretary leaving—Shira had a PI threatening the secretary to reveal some deep secret of the secretary's, who had told all of this to Rory in tears as she escorted her out of the building. The Huntzbergers knew how to play dirty, that was for sure.

Rory stood up and wrapped her arms around Logan's waist, looked up at him, and gave the warmest smile she could.

"You can do whatever you want to do, sweetie. Just… humor him for awhile. Try it out. Maybe you'll like it," she said. He just shook his head, sighed, and rested his head on her shoulder.

Rory missed her mom. She wished that Lorelai had been more open to Logan—she knew they would have had so much to talk about—they both had the same repressed, Hartford society upbringing. Logan would look up to Lorelai, she knew he would. And Lorelai would be good for him—he would want to be independent from his parents, just like her mother was. Instead Rory just tried to ignore her mother's voice in her head and give Logan her own misguided advice. She didn't want Logan to do something stupid.

When Lorelai had last been at his diner, she had proposed to Luke. It had been two months since he had said no. He said no. He couldn't help thinking about how much of an idiot he was. He called her twenty times the next day, and was sent to voicemail twenty times. He showed up at her house, but she didn't want to talk. He didn't want to give up on her- he told her he wanted to be engaged eventually, but not until things were right with her and Rory. But she said he was too late. She was done. Then he just stopped trying. Two weeks ago, he saw her at Weston's having coffee with some good looking dark haired asshole. It looked like a first date, and it looked like she was having a good time. Three days ago, he heard Babette whispering to Miss Patty about Lorelai having "some handsome rich guy with a Mercedes" over after having a date with the dark-haired asshole. He had a hard time believing that Lorelai was sleeping around. Then again, he knew how self-destructive she could be when she wanted to.

He had talked to Sookie about it when she came into the diner.

"I'm just worried, Sookie…With all the stuff with Rory, and.."

"Rory rejected her, then you rejected her, at least in her mind you did, and it was a lot…" Sookie said. "I think she just won't talk to anyone about it. She told me about the Rory thing but just asked that I drop it. And she just doesn't think that you love her enough- which is crazy, Luke, because I know how much you love her. We wouldn't be having this conversation if you didn't love her enough."

"But she's with another guy? Two other guys? I just don't get it. I couldn't imagine dating someone else right now," Luke said.

"Well, she's gone on a few dates with Peter…and I heard Babette talking about the rich guy, and I asked her about that, and she just said he was her accountant. I think she's hurting, Luke…Maybe you could try reaching out again. And don't be mad if she's sleeping around- it's just her way of dealing."

Luke rubbed his temple. He was mad at Rory for causing her mother's mental breakdown. But he also couldn't help being mad at Lorelai; she should have learned to deal with stuff like this already. He hadn't meant to make her feel rejected, but that was obviously how she felt. He knew what he needed to do. It had been in his pocket for almost six months, but he had been too afraid to take it out. A wedding ring- for Lorelai. It had been his mother's ring, and he had taken it out of his safety deposit box the afternoon after their first date.

"_I'm all in."_

"Ceasar, you're in charge. I'll be back."

Lorelai was lying naked on the couch with Mitchum. She felt worse every time they slept together- Shira had long ago accepted her husband's infidelities, Mitchum had told her that. But no one deserved to be cheated on. And, in a way, Lorelai felt like she was cheating on Luke and betraying Rory. No, she and Luke were done. But she couldn't get over the fact that they could have been engaged- they could have been happier than they ever had been. The hole in her heart was growing everyday.

She rolled over and pressed her chest to Mitchum's, covering her backside with a blanket.

"_Why are we doing this?" she asked him. "I mean, I hate you. Actually. And I hate what you did to my daughter. And you're cheating on your wife. Who is a nice person…Or, was a nice person, I guess…"_

But then she realized she hadn't said any of that out loud. She was just thinking that.

"Why are you looking at me like that, Lorelai?" Mitchum said, grinning.

"Oh, you know, your chest hair is just irresistible….." She paused. "Have you seen The 40-year old Virgin?" Mitchum gave her a confused look. "Oh. Well. We could watch it."

"I think there's something better we can do…" He said, moving on top of her. She feigned surprise.

"But I'm saving myself for marriage!" she laughed. There was just something about him. Something easy. None of her feelings for Luke felt easy.

He had picked flowers for her from Taylor's garden. She would love that: Lorelai hated Taylor about as much as he did. Luke was wearing a suit. He had moved the ring to the breast pocket of his jacket. He had combed his hair and shaved his five o' clock shadow. He just kept thinking, '_she's going to say yes.'_

And then he got to her front door, and peeked into her living room. She was on the couch, but the TV wasn't on. No, she was naked, covered by a blanket, and then some guy, the rich guy (he assumed, he hoped) was on top of her…And he was living his worst nightmare.

He dropped the flowers somewhere in between her house and the diner.


End file.
